Visconti

[nisaba]

I;'m starting to take an interest in the Visconti deck recently - and not before time.

The are a number of reprints available at the moment: I have a copy of the miniature Lo Scarabeo with additional cards by Atanassov, and I'm currently looking longingly at the Cary-Yale, where Scapini has been involved in the reconstruction of the deck, and I believe has brought it up well past teh uy78 to around 84 or 86 or something.

What I'm wondering is: which cards in particular are originals or retouched originals, and which are lost completely and constructed out of the contemporary artists' minds? Someone should know - Wiki doesn't ...

 

[Debra]

Devil and Tower are new.

 

[Rosanne]

The Visconti Cary Yale is a little different from the Visconti Sforza and there is a restoration of the Visconti Sforza which was the most complete deck. The restoration is called the Visconti Gold and is published by Lo Scarabeo. The reconstruction artist was Alexander Atanassov.

The Visconti Cary Yale- the large photo of the original cards have more missing cards than the Visconti Sforza. This facsimile deck has 19 cards recreated by Scapini in 1983. It is thought that the minors originally had 64 cards rather the 56 which the extras were a female Knight and Page for each suit. There are also the three theological Virtues- Faith, Hope and Charity. I personally do not like Scapini's recreation cards, although I am a fan of Scapini's work in general.

No Visconti cards have been found that are the Devil and the Tower- and I think the Il Menghello versions of these two cards the best.

I love the Visconti decks- but use the Visconti Sforza for reading- minus the Devil and the Tower.

I hope you enjoy your exploration of this beautiful deck/s.
~Rosanne
Scapini replaced the missing Majors
Fool
Magician
Justice
Hermit
W.O.F
Hanged Man
Temperance
Devil
Tower
Moon
Sun
7 Courts and 2 pips.(that is 89 cards in all)

 

[Abrac]

Fool
Magician
Justice
Hermit
Wheel of Fortune
Hanged Man
Temperance
Devil
Tower
Moon
Sun
Male Knight of Swords
Male Page of Swords
King of Staves
Male Knight of Staves
Queen of Cups
Female Knight of Cups
Male Page of Coins
Three of Coins

The Popess, Pope and Star are also missing from the Cary-Yale but are not reproduced in the US Games version. In the booklet Kaplan says Charity, Faith and Hope are counted as their substitutes. So in the US Games version there are 67 originals, 19 by Scapini and 86 total.

 

[Rosanne]

So in the US Games version there are 67 originals, 19 by Scapini and 86 total.

Oops Thanks Abrac!

 

[nisaba]

Thank you so much, both of you!

 

[SolSionnach]

Hi Nisaba,
I have both the LS Visconti Gold and the Meneghello Visconti - and I had the super-large scale Cary-Yale.

IMO the Scapini cards don't work with the rest of the deck in the Cary-Yale. In particular he uses some colors that don't seem to exist in the other cards: I seem to recall some electric blue and hot pink/magenta highlights in either the Devil or Tower cards. These colors really look "off" in the deck. (oops. I had the Pierpont-Morgan USG print with the Scapini cards)

The Meneghello is lovely, but on very thick, stiff cardstock. It is impossible to riffle, and it stands 1 5/8 in (44mm) high when stacked.. so you know it has very thick cardstock. It's also very difficult to tell the courts from each other, because the suit implements don't stand out from the background. That being said, it is a *treasure*, and I highly recommend it. Mine is #473/1000 and I got it from Carte-Karuta here in the US. There are 2 sizes, the one I have is LS-sized, and there is a larger size that might be as large as the Cary Yale, I don't know.

The LS Visconti Gold is not a reproduction with added foil, all the cards have been repainted. It's really nice for seeing fine details - for instance, in the Wheel of Fortune card you can see that the top figure has donkey ears, and there are scrolls with the sayings - I have reigned, I shall reign, etc - that when I look carefully at the Meneghello I can make them out, but probably would not see them unless I was using a magnifying glass. In this deck the gold is ***way*** bling. Very bright and shiny. I thought of microwaving it (!!!!) to take some of the super-shinyness off the deck, but thought the better of it. I did nuke the title card, which has some gold on it - it didn't make that much of a difference (but it really did warm up the card!)

The one real problem I have with the LS version is that some of the pips are printed reversed - and this deck has the titles of the cards along one side, so you can't just spin it... and I don't want to trim it because the backs (for once!) are lovely! None of those monochrome printing of one of the cards in the deck here. OH. I note that my version is from 1995-7 - the newer ones may not have the nice backs.

HTH. You gave me a reason to dig these decks out - it's nice to look at them again.

 

[nisaba]

Ah, Sravana, there you go, enabling me again, and me with a deck-buying addiction!

But at least it's a decent, traditional, important deck we're talking about, so you're forgiven, and I might even buy ...

 

[SolSionnach]

Ah, Sravana, there you go, enabling me again, and me with a deck-buying addiction!

But at least it's a decent, traditional, important deck we're talking about, so you're forgiven, and I might even buy ...

oops
Given what you wrote in the de-enabling thread (and my reply there), how about this: the LS Visconti Gold is not going OOP anytime soon - it's in its second iteration already. Save for that deck. I'm assuming that LS decks are imported by someone in Oz, right? Then find out what it will cost to get one, and save your shekels. Like I said, I can't imagine that it will be going OOP *anytime* soon.

 

[nisaba]

I've got a mini-LS, which is hard on the eyes when I read publicly in the little box that the owner deliberately keeps dimly-lit for the mystique. I'm savagely drawn towards the Cary Yale, not the least because I've got a little sub-collection going of Scapini decks (veltrate, Lukumi, Mediaeval...) I'm pretty tragic.

But the Visconti is TRADITIONAL, right?

It's a part of Tarot history.

It would be very remiss of me not to have a full-sized, and the LS is too new-looking for authenticity, whilst the Cary-Yale has a blistered, aged look to it in the few images I've seen.

AAAArrgh! I'm ENABLING MYSELF NOW! <runs screaming to the de-enabling thread>

I can't see Bembo painting tiny little mini-miniatures, so sooner of later I'm going to have to go for a non Lo Scarabeo Visconti, just out of authenticity.